“The Greatest Thing,” the duet between Lady Gaga and Cher that Momma Monster has disavowed, surfaced today.
As you recall, in June Cher replied to a fan on Twitter that Lady Gaga “doesn”t like it, or want it to come out. She”s an artist, it”s up to her. I”m disappointed 2.”
Now, in addition to being disappointed, Cher is also pissed. Apparently, the RedOne-produced version that leaked today is the “wrong version,” she tweeted. Her full tweet: “Disappointed (I”ve sat on fkng song 4 over a yr) NOW SOME ASSHOLE LEAKS WRONG VERSION! GaGa”S SINGLE IS GREAT, & THAT”S ALL THAT MATTERS).” What a nice little plug for “Applause,” which also leaked, forcing Lady Gaga to release it a week early, yesterday.
So the song is a sweet, uplifting slice of self-esteem in which Cher (LG comes in later and in a relatively minor capacity) apologizes that someone her hurt her boo, but declares that this person is The Greatest Thing and she spends the bulk of the song trying to convince the person, even resorting to spelling out G-R-E-A-T. It”s a slight and treacly sweet, melodic, retro dance track. They sing the chorus together and then Lady Gaga takes the third verse. “When you feel you aren”t enough/I”ll give you wings and lift you up. I hope you can see that you”re the greatest thing to me,” Cher sings. And while some of the words change, that”s the message that you need to take with you. (Listen quickly, various versions are being taken down…. )
I know from Cher”s tweet that if a version was going to leak, this wasn”t the one she wanted out there, but this one isn”t bad, it just needs a little more oomph. In fact, with a stronger remix, I could see this being a club smash.
No word on if it makes the cut for Cher”s album (although it sounds in July like it would not), “Closer To The Truth,” which comes out Sept. 24. Maybe the leak changed that decision.
What do you think of “The Greatest?”